What are warts?

If you are infected with warts and verrucas, you are not alone. It is estimated that one in ten adults and as many as one in three children have warts and verrucas.

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Warts are caused by a viral infection and although they can appear on any part of the body, warts on hands and fingers are the most common type. Wart symptoms can vary but they usually appear as small, grainy skin growths that often feel rough to the touch which can range in colour from pink and white to tan. Some people will only get one wart, while others get many more, and it’s not uncommon to experience 10-20 warts throughout your life.

What causes warts and verrucas?

The cause of warts is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which infects the cells in the outer layer of the skin through tiny cuts and scrapes. There are over 100 different types of HPV viruses, and they are contagious. Since the incubation period is long – anywhere between two and six months – it can be difficult to identify where you came into contact with the virus. Children, whose immune systems are not fully developed, are more susceptible to warts than healthy adults.  

Wart on foot

Different types of warts

Different types of HPV virus cause different types of warts. Most often, warts appear on your feet, hands and fingers, although they can grow on other parts of the body as well. 

  • Common warts (Verruca vulgaris) are the most common wart type. They can appear singly or in groups anywhere on your body, but are most commonly seen on hands and feet. Common warts look like raised growths on the skin and have a hard, uneven surface area.
  • Plantar warts (Verruca plana, also known as verrucas) are warts on the soles of the feet that have been pushed into the skin surface by the weight of the body. They often grow in clusters.
  • Plane warts (Verruca pedis) are smaller warts that lie flatter on the skin. They usually appear on the hands or face.
  • Subungual and periungual warts are rough, irregular warts that form underneath the toenails and fingernails. They start out small but can grow to the size of a pea and cause the nail to become loose and deformed.

Preventing warts

How do you get warts and what is the best way to prevent warts?

Causes of warts

Warts can spread between persons and from one place on your body to another, what are the causes?

Treatment for warts and verrucas

Most warts are harmless and disappear within two years, but some may remain longer than that. Even if your warts and verrucas are not painful, you can easily pass them on to other people. This can be done directly, if somebody comes into contact with one of your warts, or indirectly via an inanimate object such as a towel or public changing room floor. You can also infect and spread warts from one part of your body to another if you have a cut or lesion that comes into contact with one of your warts. Warts on hands and fingers are particularly prone to spreading if you bite your nails. To avoid spreading your infection, you should treat new warts as soon as they appear. The vast majority of warts can be removed at home with over the counter treatment such as EndWarts PEN, containing a formic acid solution that is easy to use and effectively treats nine warts out of ten. 1

1 2001 Topical formic acid puncture technique for the treatment of common warts.

Ramesh M. Bhat, MD, DVD, DNB, Krishna Vidya, MD, and Ganesh Kamath, MBBS, DVD

 

 

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Endwarts PEN

EndWarts PEN

Precise application

Contains the same powerful and effective acid as the original EndWarts. This product is developed and designed with the consumer`s needs and desires in mind. A safe device for convenient handling.